Pat Cleland Quotations

Let 'em enjoy it. They deserve it. I'm so happy for our community. I'm so happy for the kids.

Much better shooters than what we saw statistically and from what we saw on film.

Rich teaches his kids to play physical just like I teach my kids. Tonight they did it for four quarters and we did it for three.

Have I ever seen anything like this? No. Never. And I'm not sure I had the best seat in the house. I think I would have had more fun watching from the stands.

I thanked them for having the courage to play this game. I hope the series continues.

Kyle did a great job running the offense, and I switched things up on him a couple of times. I didn't give him any breaks, either. I kept thinking I should take him out, but I just couldn't. He was an ironman tonight.

Our full-court pressure defense was the key. And we were much more physical tonight than we have been in a while.

Patrick's steadily improved all year. He keeps getting better. He was a force inside.

That was the first time all year I've had to get in my kids' faces about effort. To their credit, they responded. But we needed three quarters of great basketball after that, and we didn't get it.

We'll celebrate tonight. This feels great. But we still have work to do. We're far from satisfied.

We got the monkey off our back. Anywhere you go in the game of basketball there's pressure to win. For me, this is a sigh of relief.

We mixed up our defenses a little better and I substituted a little earlier, which helped our legs. I thought we had better flow offensively, too.

Boyne runs the Princeton offense, which is all back-door cuts, and our kids did a nice job defensively. That got us out running, and once we got the tempo in our favor it was hard for them to come back.

That game involved two teams with very strong wills. It's a shame a game like that has to come down to free throws at the end.

They really took command of the game. We were shell-shocked. Not only did they hit shots, they took control of the boards. And our kids aren't used to that.

It was crazy - like a scene out of 'Hoosiers'. Change one thing (in the final minute) and we probably don't win. It was miraculous.

That gym 's going to be hopping. It's going to be an exciting game.

It was just a miraculous comeback, and I've got to believe that Katie had something to do with it.

I hope we can finally come out of this one with a win.

I didn't see it, but I could hear the crowd. And they loved it.

I didn't hesitate to put Matt in. He's a senior who knows how to make big putts at big times.

The last two years I've packed a bag so I could go straight up to Marquette (to scout the next opponent), and both times we lost, so this time I didn't pack. Now I have to drive back to Traverse City, change my clothes and drive back up to Marquette.